The Clown Manager

Jim was a clown. After graduating from college, he got a job as a professional clown. It was meant to stoke his passion, to make others laugh and as a temporary way to earn money until he landed a job in accounting. Jim never landed that job in accounting.

One year after becoming a clown, Jim was promoted to clown manager. He was doing such a good job making customers laugh, he got promoted to manage people. Seems logical. As the years began to mount, Jim became more entrenched in his management position. But Jim wasn't happy. He didn't have the patience to deal with clowns who didn't want to grow and develop as professional clowns. And it seemed as the old timers retired, most clowns wanted to just put in their time and get the hell out of Dodge.

Jim dreamed of becoming a scout. He dreamed of flying to the edge of the universe, meeting innovative people and learning about what they were working on. He dreamed of finding an organization that would appreciate his insatiable curiosity and hunger to relay these coordinates back for others to learn about and use. Due to his present financial responsibilities and the fact that he had no experience as a scout, Jim felt trapped.

One day however, the corporate bureaucracy came to a head. Jim's bosses distilled the entire operation down to numbers. Cut, cut, cut. No long term vision to develop the organization (that was why he never could have created that scout position at this circus). Jim walked up to the head corporate Clown and quit.

Jim began to look for a new career. Although he was an experienced clown, to hook up with another circus would be no different than the one he just left. Nine months into his search he began to have doubts. Bills piled up and they were about to lose their house. Jim's wife's salary was not enough to keep them afloat. Should he give up the dream and go back to being a clown manager? Or should he burn the bridge and forge into new territories?

In a last ditch effort, as his world began to cave in around him, Jim reached out and grabbed hold of the stork's neck. He had to figure out a way to proclaim to the world that he would never, ever become a clown manager again. So he decided to blow the bridge to smithereens and write about it on his blog. He wrote...

Dear World (and those who will Google me), I have the utmost respect in the world for clown managers. I am in awe of the great patience it requires to navigate between their clown managers and the clown employees who punch into work and punch out their minds. I don't have the ability to work with clowns who don't care about their growth and professional development. I cannot be a clown manager!

Jim turned and looked toward the river. He bent down on one knee over the detonation device. He let out one huge breath and pushed down. KABOOM!!!

Suddenly the stork let out a great cough and he fell to the ground. Freedom! And you know,freedom tastes of reality...